EC rot blot on 2016 polls - Azeem

A former Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mr Vitus Azeem, has called for a thorough investigation into the activities, accusations and counteraccusations between the chair of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei and her deputies as well as some staff of the election management body.

His call follows the response by the chairperson to some 27 allegations of fraud and financial malfeasance levelled against her by the staff who have petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo for her removal.

In a 28-point response, Mrs Osei denied any acts of fraud or financial malfeasance on her part and counter-alleged fraud and corruption against her accusers.

Contributing to the discussion on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Monday, 24 July 2017, Mr Azeem said: “From what I’m hearing, it requires a very serious investigation into this whole matter because these accusations and counteraccusations involve very serious cases, that is, alleged procurement breaches and other things and it even has to do with elections, which is unfortunate because we are talking about somebody making unauthorised voter transfers. So definitely, we should be worried about it, and, so, it requires some serious investigations.”

He added that the integrity of the EC has been attacked, adding that Mrs Osei in her response to the petition “refers to the unauthorised transfer of voters. If that is true, definitely it has something to do with the integrity of the elections we just held and it could lead to a lot of complication, and, so, the best thing for them is to just allow a transparent and serious investigation that will save the image of the commission.”

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